This brief paper considers ways in which people with sensory impairments can benefit from the assistive technology available with computers. Assistive technology practitioners are urged not to focus on the disability, but on the individual's abilities and the tasks to be performed. Explanations of the major sensory disability areas precedes…

This is a continuation of "Funding of Assistive Technology to Make Work a Reality" (Work and AT), Article # 3 in this Policy and Practice Brief Series. This article will review the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), with a particular emphasis on how the ADA can be used to ensure that a person with a disability has…

Children learn through movement and interactions with their environment and/or with others. For children who have physical limitations, this natural developmental process is affected. The use of assistive technology to enhance movement, communication, play and learning allows the child with physical impairments to learn in a more independent…

In this issue of "NetNews," the focus is on dysgraphia, a form of writing disability. Both dyslexia and dysgraphia fall under the category of specific learning disability. They may be related because significant language processing problems can impact both reading and spelling--although there is less incidence of dysgraphia. Dysgraphia…

Though technology has played an increasingly significant role in all types of classrooms, the actual use of technologies has not caught up with the increased availability of hardware and software. Building community in an assistive course, can make full use of advanced technologies and create a student-centred learning environment to meet each…

"Child Care Health Connections" is a bimonthly newsletter published by the California Childcare Health Program (CCHP), a community-based program of the University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing, Department of Family Health Care Nursing. The goals of the newsletter are to promote and support a healthy and safe environment…

The purpose of this report is to comply with the legislative mandate of the Assistive Technology (AT) Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-394) requiring the Secretary of Education to report annually on the activities funded under this Act (Section 103(c)). Section 103(c) of the AT Act of 1998 requires the following information on the AT State Grant…

As educators' awareness of their responsibilities towards ensuring the accessibility of the learning environment to disabled students increases, significant debate surrounds the implications of accessibility requirements on educational multimedia. There would appear to be widespread concern that the fundamental principles of creating accessible…

This booklet contains 28 fact sheets on communication written primarily for parents and families with a child who is deaf-blind. They attempt to address fundamental but complex issues related to the communication needs of children with vision and hearing impairments. Each fact sheet targets a specific area, including: (1) communication; (2)…

This publication, written in Spanish, examines the requirement under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that mandates that all children with disabilities have available to them special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for employment and independent living. It investigates what…

The New Mexico State Department of Education received a federal grant to provide educational and assistive technology for American Indian children living in the Pueblos of Laguna and Acoma, New Mexico. During the 2-year project, more than 229 assistive technology items were purchased, and some form of assistive technology was provided to 121…

This paper discusses the difficulties many school districts have in fully complying with the assistive technology requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), especially the broadened requirement in IDEA 97 to consider the need for assistive technology in developing each Individualized Education Program for students with…

This brochure discusses the role of the parent of a child with a disability in assistive technology considerations. It describes assistive technology devices and services for a child with a disability, and provides information on the following areas: (1) the consideration of assistive technology during the Individualized Education Program (IEP);…

How many adults with literacy problems actually have learning disabilities (LD)? Do most adults with severe literacy problems actually have a learning disability? What data exist to support the claims? How is LD being defined? Is the label overused? Is social/economic disadvantage misinterpreted as LD? What technologies and software exist to…

This study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of two programs developed by the Frostig Center Research Department to improve the reading and spelling of students with learning disabilities (LD): a computer Speech Recognition-based Program (SRBP) and a computer and text-based Automaticity Program (AP). Twenty-eight LD students with reading…